Korg M50-61 Review

This is a killer, easy-to-use keyboard. Perfect for live applications or personal composition.

The first thing that I really loved about the Korg M50 was the ease of use and the beats and sounds that come out when you use the Combi programs. I played it without reading the manual, and it was easy with the touch screen to get good sounds right away. The first note you hit throws the drum beat down and then you can start making music. Piece of cake! Of course you can switch the drum beats, sounds, etc. with the press of the onscreen virtual button. It was really fun to make music with the Combi programs.

It took me a bit to figure out the dual arpeggiator, but there are a lot of options, once you find the different buttons on the LCD. ARPEGGIATIONS GALORE! Great for making your performances sound professional and full.

One of the features that was especially fun was the chord saver. You can save up to four chords. Then you just press one of the four buttons and it plays your saved chord. Plus, when the arpeggiator is on, the chords are arpeggiated. That would be great for live applications.

The 16-track sequencer is awesome for playing backup tracks for live, or just getting ideas down onto your SD card or hard drive via USB. It took awhile to figure out; nothing the manual can’t fix though.

You can also use four knobs to tweak your patch or arpeggiation. Or use the joystick to bend and modulate your tone. You can use it for traditional pitch bend (up or down to a whole step), or use it for a couple of program functions (wah, filter). I think this is faster and easier to use than the usual modulation wheel on the side of most controllers or keyboards.

For 600 sounds, oodles of arpeggiations, and rad Combi patches with drums beats already programmed in – this is a killer, complex, yet easy-to-use keyboard. Perfect for live applications or personal composition.